Yokes and Burdens

Jesus happened to say some amazing things almost every day of his recorded life... and at the top of my list is the following from Matthew 11:30: "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Say what Lord? You've got to be kidding...must be a misprint. Either you've been playing "Ants" too long on my iPad (the game "Ants" is where you use a magnifying glass to focus the sun's rays and burn as many ants as you can) or you are trying to be funny (did you happen to notice I'm not laughing?) Remind my again just how my present "living hell" pain and fear come from your "good" hand?

LITTLE BRAIN THOTS. I'm on vacation with my sister Dawna and family, but you wouldn't know it by looking at the pictures... my nephew Daniel's birthday party on Friday:

Where is Uncle Merv?

Presents? Check.
Cake and ice-cream? Check.
Fun, laughter, and games? Check, check, check!
Merv? Nope, no check... just call me Waldo...
How about the fire on the beach last night with everyone singing, laughing, and eating s'mores until the sun goes under water? Nope again...

Where is uncle Merv? Alone in the condo, waiting to come back from yet another crash. But if I do, it's usually too late. Ryan must have told me five times over the past few days, "Uncle Merv, I don't want you to have Parkinson's."  I know Ryan, neither do I.

So, back to 2am and my pity party... I'm thinking about the words "yoke, easy, burden, light" and getting more confused and upset by the minute.  I feel prompted me to look up the context of Matt 11:30... starting at vs 25...

²⁵At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. ²⁶Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
 ²⁷"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
 ²⁸"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

BIG BRAIN THOTS. " Did you ever stop to ask what a yoke is really for? Is it to be a burden to the animal which wears it? It is just the opposite: it is to make its burden light. Attached to the oxen in any other way than by a yoke, the plow would be intolerable; worked by means of a yoke, it is light. A yoke is not an instrument of torture; it is an instrument of mercy. It is not a malicious contrivance for making work hard; it is a gentle device to make hard labor light. [Christ] knew the difference between a smooth yoke and a rough one, a bad fit and a good one... The rough yoke galled, and the burden was heavy; the smooth yoke caused no pain, and the load was lightly drawn. The badly fitted harness was a. misery; the well fitted collar was "easy". And what was the "burden"? It was not some special burden laid upon the Christian, some unique infliction that they alone must bear. It was what all men bear: it was simply life, human life itself, the general burden of life which all must carry with them from the cradle to the grave. Christ saw that men took life painfully. To some it was a weariness, to others failure, to many a tragedy, to all a struggle and a pain. How to carry this burden of life had been the whole world's problem. And here is Christ's solution: "Carry it as I do. Take life as I take it. Look at it from my point of view. Interpret it upon my principles. Take my yoke and learn of me, and you will find it easy. For my yoke is easy, sits right upon the shoulders, and therefore my burden is light." (Henry Drummond)